Industry News - March 2015
Tau 330 Digital Label Press Accommodates Jumbo Rolls
Durst is now offering a high-productivity, industrial-scale, “jumbo roll” unwind/rewind option for its Tau 330 UV Inkjet Digital Label Press, providing up to two hours of uninterrupted printing, with fewer changeovers and less downtime.
Fully automated, servo-driven, external “jumbo roll” unwind/rewind units accommodate rolls up to three feet in diameter, 14 inches wide and more than 13,000 linear feet in length. The system features a built-in roll handler for motorized loading and unloading, while a built-in splice table makes roll changes easy and fast. The system’s servo drive feeds material in both directions.
The configuration can be employed with the standard Tau 330, or with the Tau’s Low Migration System for printing on foils and thin films. It handles a range of materials as thick as 20-pt. paperboard. —www.durstus.com
McLean Packaging Adds New KBA Press
McLean Packaging of Moorestown, NJ has added an eight color, 41˝ KBA Rapida 106 hybrid press to its 100,000 square foot folding carton manufacturing site.
The press can be configured with seven litho units, a coater, two drying stubs, an eighth litho unit, and a second coater. It can run conventional and UV ink and features the KBA QualiTronic ColorControl system, which monitors the quality of every sheet.
“We differentiate ourselves by taking on challenging projects,” says Joe Fenkel, chairman and CEO of McLean Packaging. “Our success is built upon continually exceeding customer expectations for premium packaging and carton production. Our vision is to leverage the technology on this press to create greater shelf appeal on our packaging products.” —www.kba.com
LMI Packaging Taps Mark Andy for Lidding Applications
LMI Packaging, a provider of heat sealable lidding for food and beverage markets, has purchased a Mark Andy Performance Series P7 in-line flexographic press. Planned for installation at LMI’s Pleasant Prairie, WI facility, the 20˝ press will support LMI’s sustainability initiatives with quick job setup and changeover and substantial waste savings compared to traditional flexo solutions. Its web temperature management and tension control makes it a strong option to manage and run 3-4 mil plastic and foil lamination materials at full production speeds. —www.markandy.com
Maxcess Opens Precision Roll Center of Excellence
Maxcess has expanded to Chicopee, MA with the opening of its Center of Excellence Facility. The $1.5 million endeavor will be used for manufacturing long length and large diameter rolls for the paper, plastic sheet, food and converting industries.
“We think investing in this complete transformation will be an enormous asset to our organization, as well as our customers,” said Greg Jehlik, CEO of Maxcess. “This is the first step, with plans for our Neenah, Wisconsin facility underway in an expansive transformation for Webex in how we manufacture our precision rolls, ultimately providing our customers with greater service and shorter lead times.” —www.maxcessintl.com
Superior Bond and Super-Clean Opening from H.B. Fuller
Sesame dry-end technology from H.B. Fuller Co. provides the same benefits of traditional H.B. Fuller tape products, but adds the benefit of running on the dry end of a corrugator. According to H.B.Fuller, combining fiber technology and hot melt adhesives, the Sesame dry-end tapes offer strength and durability to provide corrugated manufacturers the superior bond and clean opening presently provided by wet-end applications. By applying the tape on the dry end, users can add efficiency and tape control. —www.hbfuller.com
TRESU iCoat 30000 TWIN enables single-pass double coating on folding cartons
The new TRESU iCoat 30000 TWIN applies two coats of varnish to digitally printed folding cartons, inline in a single pass.
Designed for inline integration with the HP Indigo 30000 Digital Press, TRESU iCoat 30000 TWIN includes two flexo units capable of applying spot, partial or full surface coating immediately after the printing stage. The result is a single-pass sheet-fed print and coating operation, resulting in efficiencies in logistics, material waste, setup time and handling.
Combination varnish printing with the new TRESU coater opens numerous creative opportunities. Examples of possible effects include a double full-surface coat for extra protection; juxtaposing matte with high-gloss; or combining full, spot or line effects to create contrast or adding vividness to an underlying color.
The iCoat 30000 TWIN can run up to 5000 sheets/hour on board substrates between 180g/m² (121.6 lb) and 500g/m² (337.8 lb). It also features corona treatment, quick-change sleeve technology and the ability to switch from UV to aqueous varnish within a few minutes. —www.tresu.com
Xeikon Cheetah Combines Speed and Print Width
Built specifically for labels and packaging applications, the new Xeikon Cheetah features a top speed of up to 98 ft/min (30m/min), outperforming other digital label presses in its class. It allows the use of substrate widths up to 330 mm or 13 inches. The five-color press features full rotary printing, a print resolution of true 1200 x 3600 dpi, no VOC emissions, and toners that meet FDA regulations for food contact. Additional colors for the fifth color station include one-pass opaque white, red, green, blue, orange, ExtraMagenta, SuperBlack, UV-reflecting clear, and Durable Clear. —www.xeikon.com
Constant Current LED Driver for Machine Vision and UV Curing
Innovations in Optics has introduced the Model 5000D-100 LED Driver/Controller for powering its Aurora Classic Line Source Illuminators. The new LED Driver provides constant current in either continuous, pulsed or PWM modes. An embedded system adds network control with 10/100Mbps Ethernet connectivity.
The 5000D-100 is also available for third party LED illuminators to be used as a constant current DC to DC driver/controller. The output current setting is adjustable from 100% down to 10%, with duty cycle adjustment from 100% to 1% via an Ethernet interface for a 100:1 dimming range. An RJ-45 Ethernet port for network integration is accessed via a utility application and an easy to use GUI enables field-programmability. —www.innovationsinoptics.com
‘De-Geek the Geeks’ at FTA Forum
The Flexographic Technical Association’s Forum 2015 will feature an entire session on understanding the technical language often found in international standards documentation. The session, “De-Geek the Geeks: From Cloudy to Clear,” will be held on Monday, May 4 from 8 am to 9:30 am and will discuss how to better understand these important standards, which can optimize processes and improve print. Malcolm Keif of California Polytechnic State University and Joe Tuccitto of the FTA will chair the session. —www.flexography.org
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